National Days
International Children's Book Day
Since 1967, on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, 2 April, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books.
So what about organising some activities?
1. Drop everything and read (DEAR)It’s an oldie but a goodie. The idea is simply that everyone (I’m looking at you, lunch supervisors,) has a book on them all day; the school bell is set to ring out randomly throughout the day and when the bell rings, everyone in the building stops what they’re doing and reads the book they have.
Make sure you explain to the pupils that this is to emphasise that reading can be done anywhere and everyone is doing it! It’s lots of fun and breaks down barriers in conversation about books that people are reading.
2. Book swapA book sale is always a great way to get some extra pennies for the school library, but why not try a book swap? Those who want to take part, bring in a book and swap it for another one brought in by another pupil. You could even have a staff book swap! Make sure to stipulate the condition of the books brought in and perhaps guide pupils to bring in books from their age bracket to ensure even distribution.
3. Take your favourite character to schoolA great World Book Day activity idea is for your pupils to take their favourite character from a book and put them into a new setting or situation and tell the story. It helps pupils more deeply understand the feelings and motivations of the characters they know and love and it helps develop their creative writing skills.
The Take your favourite character to school worksheet guides pupils to write a diary entry from the point of view of their favourite character on their first day at a new school. There’s even a model diary entry to show them exactly how to do it.
4. Create a class characterGet together as a class and use all that inspiration you’ve gathered from books and stories to create your own unique character. Brainstorm ideas on the whiteboard to decide how they look, their personality, and what role they might play in a story – will you create the hero or the villain?
Once you’ve got the basis of your character, ask the class to write their own short story about them. You could even give them a story starter for that little extra push.
5. Make a bookmarkBring an element of crafting to your World Book Day festivities by creating a bookmark based on the favourite book of each pupil.
Pinterest can be a great place to get inspiration for this type of thing, and so can trusty Google. A quick search and we found this piece from We Are Teachers.
6. Home reading photo competitionWe’re all hoping that our efforts in the classroom can spark a love of books that children take on when they’re at home. To give them that extra bit of encouragement, why not put on a school-wide home reading (we’ve seen it called a #shelfie) photo competition.
Ask your class to take a photo of themselves in front of their bookshelf at home or just sitting in a chair reading. Be sure to get involved yourself at home too.
Once you’ve got them all, wouldn’t they make a fantastic wall display?
7. Design a book coverBook covers are a fantastic way to bring some art into the World Book Day picture. Get merry with the coloured pens, pencils, or paints and design a brand-new book cover for your favourite title.
Ideas taken from https://blog.hope-education.co.uk/world-book-day-activity-ideas/
You can also listen to books read from famous actors!
Follow the links
youtu.be/B6SrbWwVKAs?si=Wrr2U-cWyO1vvwle
youtu.be/jTrs2-U5NeM?si=PiDcg_mbDFx2KdKI
youtu.be/x-Bpoj5fZr0?si=oj3Wso7Vl7e2V29E
youtu.be/7j0OY3236jw?si=zuW8nUHi2y8ps_x8
youtu.be/7j0OY3236jw?si=MCHJP_HQYs4oNzLL
So what about organising some activities?
1. Drop everything and read (DEAR)It’s an oldie but a goodie. The idea is simply that everyone (I’m looking at you, lunch supervisors,) has a book on them all day; the school bell is set to ring out randomly throughout the day and when the bell rings, everyone in the building stops what they’re doing and reads the book they have.
Make sure you explain to the pupils that this is to emphasise that reading can be done anywhere and everyone is doing it! It’s lots of fun and breaks down barriers in conversation about books that people are reading.
2. Book swapA book sale is always a great way to get some extra pennies for the school library, but why not try a book swap? Those who want to take part, bring in a book and swap it for another one brought in by another pupil. You could even have a staff book swap! Make sure to stipulate the condition of the books brought in and perhaps guide pupils to bring in books from their age bracket to ensure even distribution.
3. Take your favourite character to schoolA great World Book Day activity idea is for your pupils to take their favourite character from a book and put them into a new setting or situation and tell the story. It helps pupils more deeply understand the feelings and motivations of the characters they know and love and it helps develop their creative writing skills.
The Take your favourite character to school worksheet guides pupils to write a diary entry from the point of view of their favourite character on their first day at a new school. There’s even a model diary entry to show them exactly how to do it.
4. Create a class characterGet together as a class and use all that inspiration you’ve gathered from books and stories to create your own unique character. Brainstorm ideas on the whiteboard to decide how they look, their personality, and what role they might play in a story – will you create the hero or the villain?
Once you’ve got the basis of your character, ask the class to write their own short story about them. You could even give them a story starter for that little extra push.
5. Make a bookmarkBring an element of crafting to your World Book Day festivities by creating a bookmark based on the favourite book of each pupil.
Pinterest can be a great place to get inspiration for this type of thing, and so can trusty Google. A quick search and we found this piece from We Are Teachers.
6. Home reading photo competitionWe’re all hoping that our efforts in the classroom can spark a love of books that children take on when they’re at home. To give them that extra bit of encouragement, why not put on a school-wide home reading (we’ve seen it called a #shelfie) photo competition.
Ask your class to take a photo of themselves in front of their bookshelf at home or just sitting in a chair reading. Be sure to get involved yourself at home too.
Once you’ve got them all, wouldn’t they make a fantastic wall display?
7. Design a book coverBook covers are a fantastic way to bring some art into the World Book Day picture. Get merry with the coloured pens, pencils, or paints and design a brand-new book cover for your favourite title.
Ideas taken from https://blog.hope-education.co.uk/world-book-day-activity-ideas/
You can also listen to books read from famous actors!
Follow the links
youtu.be/B6SrbWwVKAs?si=Wrr2U-cWyO1vvwle
youtu.be/jTrs2-U5NeM?si=PiDcg_mbDFx2KdKI
youtu.be/x-Bpoj5fZr0?si=oj3Wso7Vl7e2V29E
youtu.be/7j0OY3236jw?si=zuW8nUHi2y8ps_x8
youtu.be/7j0OY3236jw?si=MCHJP_HQYs4oNzLL